Polk RMDS-1 Surround System

So I was watching
Tom Cruise blasting around in the mindless splatterfest called Mission Impossible
2 when meanwhile, the frontal part of my brain was knuckling me under about
sitting through this seriously trashy flick. But then another part of my brain
began kicking in, the part that even likes the Spice Girls on occasion, and
said, who cares, you effete snob? The surround sound effects are just so way
coo-oh-ol. And you know what? This cheap perfume loving, ancient reptilian artifact
living in my brain probably had it right. I mean, who could resist as MI2 Tommy
tumultuously trashed and crashed his motorcycle across all five-surround channels?
You could almost smell burnt rubber wafting out the rear channels.

And therein lies
the true marketing power of surround sound. If the movies sound artists
got it right and figured out how to make your bass bowels quiver and your butt
bounce off the beanbag, then even the trashiest Hollywood extravaganza suddenly
looks good -- At least if you are an alpha geek male. The more sophisticated
gender will no doubt write this all off as so much mindless testosterone spraying
and go watch some subtitled artiste thing in the other room. But hey, that just
means you are free to crank up the volume even more, or at least until some
raging neighbors Molotov your system.

So lets
have a look at a cool surround audio rig that brings hefty sound as well as
some really nifty electronics to the sonic fray; to wit, the Polk Audio RM Digital
Solution-1 surround system. Polk (www.polkaudio.com) is a serious, well-established
player in the audio business. The company makes audio gear that ranges from
small, fifty-dollar PC multimedia systems to megabuck high-end behemoths that
will sag your living room floor.

The RMDS-1s
primary product premise is hassle-free system setup up. There is no manic hair
pulling in getting the subwoofer to seamlessly mesh with the satellites and
none of the rest of the meshugeh nonsense that typically comes with buying separated
at birth components that must be forced to peacefully cohabit the same listening
space. The RMDS-1 is an all-in-one surround solution that offers instant, pain
free home theater -- just add electrical juice and go.

The product comes
complete with four no bigger than Aunt Berthas Sunday meatloaf satellite
speakers. The front left and right and rear channel satellites are identical
in size and specifications (4"W x 6.75"H x 5"D). The center channel
is somewhat larger, at 11.5"W x 4.5" H x 5.75" D. The five diminutive
speakers make for easy handling and nimble chucking about, with an overall appearance
thats quite unobtrusive.

Both the satellites
and the center channel use sonically matched, identical drivers, comprised of
a 3.25" magnetically shielded midrange driver and a .75" soft dome
tweeter. This driver matching assures an evenly matched sonic blend as the sound
jumps from speaker to speaker. Unlike the solo driver satellites, the center
channel gets two midrange drivers with a tweeter riding between them. This central
menage a trois provides a broader dispersion pattern.

The RMDS-1 subwoofer
is another story. The sub is one big, heavy mother that is almost jarring in
physical comparison to the dainty satellites. This 15.5"W x 18.75"H
x 19.5"D black box contains not only the subwoofers 10"driver
but also amplification for the five satellites and the sub. The amp section
puts out 500 watts into 4 ohms and will gladly suck 800 watts from your wall
socket at full system boom-boom tilt.

The subwoofer/electronics
box is tethered via a 4 meter D25 cable to another RMDS-1 component, a preamp/processor
that does all the stereo, Dolby ProLogic, and Dolby Digital chores. In case
you didnt know, ProLogic is an older format that relies on the surround
processor to decode all five channels with the very frequency limited rear surround
sound channels being only in mono. In contrast, 5.1 Dolby Digital (sometimes
called "AC-3") offers full-frequency, 20Hz to 20kHz playback on all
five speakers and each fully discrete channel works independently of all the
others. The ".1" channel is the subwoofer channel and handles not
only the bass duties for the sats, but also carries the special LFE (Low Frequency
Effects channel) found on Dolby Digital and DTS (a competing 5.1 channel digital
format) DVDs. Unfortunately, the RMDS-1 does not support the usually superior
sounding DTS format.

Still, this is
one comprehensive preamp/processor, quite elegant in design, that has three
digital audio inputs for DVD, laser disc (for AC-3 RF) and DSS (Digital Satellite),
and also sports six analog audio inputs. The preamp can accommodate a CD player,
tape in/out, DSS, LD, DVD, VCR in/rec out, and even offers multiroom output
with independent volume/source selection. It also has four composite video inputs
(including corresponding higher quality S-video connections) for DSS, LD, DVD,
and a VCR, plus two video outputs for VCR Rec out and video out. The Polk Preamp
also comes fitted with a surprisingly good AM/FM tuner. Despite all these manifold
hookup options, the preamp is relatively small, measuring just 17.25" W
x 4.5"H x 14" D, and is also quite lightweight.

This wide range
of input/output options are easily managed by the equally well designed RMDS-1
remote control, which also handles subwoofer level duties as well as adjusts
level balance for the surround channels. There is even "late night"
button on the remote that will reduce the sounds overall dynamic range
(the mortar explosions dont rock quite as much) and will hopefully keep
the downstairs neighbors at bay during your wee hour Clint Eastwood movie marathons.

Even by consumer
electronics ease of use standards, the RMDS-1 is incredibly simple and can be
quickly set up and used, despite all its operating options. The RMDS-1 is yet
one more sharp stick in the eye to MS CE and all the rest of the convergence
appliances that seek to make computers "naive user friendly."

Having
got the basic layout set up fairly quickly, it was time to hook up the supplied "audiophile grade cables" from the sub box to the five speakers and
do a quick sound check. Ahhh, no, sorry, these ears have heard too many fine
audiophile grade cables in their lifetime to know that this Polk marketing moniker
just didnt cut it. Zip wire is zip wire, no matter how you call this
rose by any other name.

So, in went some
Red Dawn cables from Nordost (www.nordost.com). Bingo, we were rewarded with
smoother, more extended highs and much tighter, deeper bass. Yeah, yeah, cables
are a lot of nonsense and its all rip off marketing blah, blah. Sorry
to disillusion all you I-refuse-to-believe-it-folks, cables, on systems that
offer high sonic definition, truly do make a difference. And its a tribute
to the resolving power of the $2,699 RMDS-1 that these differences were clearly
discernible with the Nordost wires in the system. (Nordost has long been a fave
rave among high-end audiophiles and reviewers).

But even with
the tighter bass and deeper extension, this preproduction RMDS-1 system was
still too boomy and flabby in the nether regions. Even cranking the subwoofer
level all the way down to its max minus position didnt completely ameliorate
the problem. Moreover, the relatively short 4-meter D25 cable running from the
preamp/processor to the subwoofer/electronics box made it difficult to shift
the big sub around the room to find a more bass friendly locale. Polk responded
by sending up a much longer D25 cable, and its good to know that these
longer cables are available from the maker should you ever run into similar
room positioning problems.

Unfortunately,
the room positioning solution only did so much. We still had too much loose
boom-boom. Clearly, it was time for some creative problem solving, which led,
ultimately to Black Diamond Racing (414-747-8733, Milwaukee, WI) and its simply
incredible resonance damping products. Made mostly from carbon fiber, the Black
Diamond Racing cones, pucks, and equipment shelves will do things for your system
that are, quite frankly, hard to believe, yet work miracles they do. Resonance
seems to play a major role in affecting sound quality, and even solid state
electronics benefit significantly from the Black Diamond treatment. I even know
a certain previously disbelieving magazine editor who got his laptop computer
to stop crashing all the time by putting some small Black Diamond pyramid cones
under it. (Systems center machines going down no matter what you do, Bunky?
Maybe its time to call D.J. Casser, president of Black Diamond.)

On a hunch, I
put three small Black Diamond cones, which were affixed to BDR Pucks, under
the RMDS-1 sub. Shazam! This big boy immediately shed his chunky monkey bass
flabbiness. The RMDS-1 sub now did a low down bass salsa with all the svelte
moves of a Cubano torch singer. The problem, obviously, was that this preproduction
subwoofer was lacking in structural rigidity, causing it to flex and muddy the
deep sonic waters. Hopefully, production variants of the RMDS-1 have got this
shaky bass structure riding on a firmer foundation. Which would be excellent,
because once it was all straightened out, the RMDS-1 could rock with the best
of them.

Tonal balance
of the system was superb, and with the sub squared away, integration with the
satellites was seamless. Female vocals, always an excellent test for a system,
were very good and naturally smooth. Clearly, some very big engineering went
into the design of these tiny speakers. These satellites exemplify the maxim
that good things do indeed come in small packages. One thing though, do not
mount the speakers above ear level, as the tweeters lose something when you
move too much off axis. So if go up you must, be sure to aim them down at the
listening area.

As for movies,
this is one of those systems that make you wonder about the laws of physics
as these little puppies put out a very BIG sound. You can easily hit 105 dB
without the tiny speakers screeching bloody murder. Even at ear-bleeding levels,
the RMDS-1 remained relaxed, poised and confident. Of course, you can only fool
Mother Nature for so long before she swats you down. Although the bass will
continue to mightily pump away, the highs eventually run out of dynamic steam.
For example, when the infamous T-Rex in Jurassic Park turned those Jeeps into
a dino Happy Meal, the flying about metal bits didnt have that, uh-oh,
better duck your head sharp object impact. But to the overall systems
credit, those spit out car parts didnt sound like hollowed-out tin toys,
either.

All in all, the
RMDS-1 manages to create a highly credible acoustic bubble in which you can
vicariously live out all sorts of movie mayhem. Even low level dialog managed
to do without that, huh? What did he say/can you repeat that scene nonsense.

For $2,700 you
can go out and perhaps assemble a better mix of separate components, but the
effort in getting these different make parts working in happy sonic synchrony
can be prodigious, and even then, good results are not assured. Once you add
it all up, the aural sum of the RMDS-1 is truly greater than its individual
parts. If you want angst-free, great surround sound and an equally good overall
home entertainment center, plus something that will easily meet with your fussy
mates aesthetic approval, then the RMDS-1 might be the only show in town.
Your no-taste, awful movie loving reptilian brain will also thank you, because
sometimes, really bad can be really good.